Factory Fill 10W30 / 5 Hrs / B&S 24 HP V-Twin

[Peter_Pan]

2009 B&S Platinum 24 HP V-Twin with XRD (Report erroneously says 20 HP).
It's specially sold on Mastercraft mowers as the Platinum series. It sits below the Professional Series but above the Intek XRD line. It's for the most part a Professional Series engine with the same air cleaner design etc. but also with some cheaper components of the Intek XRD.

This is the first oil change @ 5 Hrs per manual with engine at 5 Hrs lifetime. So far the engine has been great! It's quite and very good on gas and puts out very good power.

Usage on this oil was in cold weather, between 10 and 30 Fahrenheit.

Opinions on the UOA?

 

[Steve S]

A uoa on a factory fill does that mean are you going to trend? It would be interesting. What oil are you going to run?

 

[Peter_Pan]

Originally Posted By: Steve S
A uoa on a factory fill does that mean are you going to trend? It would be interesting. What oil are you going to run?


Yup, am gonna trend it as I rarely pass 50 Hrs / Year mark so once a year basically.

I've put in Formula Shell Synthetic 5W-30.

 

[MrMeeks]

My computer is not displaying the data.

 

[MrMeeks]

Now I'm getting it.Nothing to be concerned about.
Try .5oz/5gal of two stroke oil for top piston ring lubrication.
get a magnetic oil drain plug.I have owned similar engines.If the valve clearances get too tight these engines get hard to start.I can describe my method of setting those clearances if you are intrested.

 

[Peter_Pan]

Originally Posted By: MrMeeks
Now I'm getting it.Nothing to be concerned about.
Try .5oz/5gal of two stroke oil for top piston ring lubrication.
get a magnetic oil drain plug.I have owned similar engines.If the valve clearances get too tight these engines get hard to start.I can describe my method of setting those clearances if you are intrested.


Interesting suggestion re: two stroke oil. I'll add it in, being very low in ash, I can't see it doing any harm. Any particular brand/viscosity? Am not very educated in the two stroke field.

I'm a fan of the magnetic plugs too but on this engine B&S has done away with the plug, instead they've stuck a tube with a flip up lid in to the drain. I guess they wanted to take the "tools" excuse out of oil changes by making them tool-less but that also eliminated the plug. I may take a closer look and see if I can actually remove the tube and put in a plug.

Do fill me in regarding setting the clearances. I'll print them out and keep them with the rest of the manuals for this engine for future reference.

 

[Peter_Pan]

An updated report. Seems like the Formula Shell Synthetic stood up very well to both Winter weather when the tractor is used as a snowplow as well as the Summer highs when used as a mower.

Copper is really high though...

Opinions?

 

[Peter_Pan]

Previous report's image file was delete. Here it is again for comparison:

 

[Peter_Pan]

Here is the latest results.

There was roughly 60 hrs. on this sample subjected to both summer and winter temps. There was no other oil changes between this sample and the one before it above at 36 hrs. The reason the engine hrs. is higher is cause the counter was on when I forgot the key in ACC for about 24 hrs. at some point.

Anyways, the fill this time consisted of:

600ml Petro Canada SM 10W-30 dino -> Opened left over from a few years ago!
200ml M1 0W-40 SM synthetic -> Recently opened left over from one of the Mercs.
1000ml Castrol Syntec SM 10W-30 (sort of I guess) -> Freshly opened.

No-name Chinese filter ordered off of Alibaba matching the B&S OEM filter at 1/3 the cost shipped!

I have to admit the mixture seems to have worked quite well! I'm impressed with the filter as well. Calcium and Sodium have gone up a bit, any ideas?

Next report is all left over, two years old Castrol Syntec SM 10W-30. Will run for 80 hrs. as recommended by Black Stone. Manufacturer recommends 25 hrs. oil changes and 50 hrs. oil + filter changes!

 

[CATERHAM]

The main comment I will make is that these oils are light on ZDDP vs B&S's own 30wt oil and other lawnmower oils presumably.